Out of poverty, county turns focus to fitness

It's 6:30 am. The sun has just risen over the Qinling Mountains, and Peng Lizhu, 75, has started his day by playing ping-pong with his friends at a sports center in Shanyang county, Shaanxi province.

Peng is just one among the more than 100 people who do morning exercises at the county stadium.

"Facilities at the sports center are quite good. Every day, I play table tennis for two hours. People also play badminton, run or do tai chi," said Peng, waving his paddle. "Now that there are good sports facilities, more people love to keep fit. The healthier we become, the happier we are."

Fitness has become a new lifestyle for residents in the remote county tucked in the Qinling Mountains, a natural boundary between China's north and south. Shanyang was removed from the national poverty list last year.

Since shaking off absolute poverty, the county has channeled more resources into mass fitness projects in a bid to improve people's livelihoods.

At 8:30 am, hikers descend the newly built trail in Mount Cuiping Park. Aside from the two hiking trails on mounts Cuiping and Canglong, an 8.5-kilometer riverside walking lane has just been paved and a 2-km lane is under construction, according to Wang Linpei, an official with the county sports center.

"There's one fitness venue for every urban resident within a 10-minute walk," Wang said. "Hiking and jogging have become a morning routine for many people."

After playing table tennis, Peng attends a special college for the elderly, a public facility where senior citizens take nondegree courses. He studies playing the erhu, the Chinese violin, and singing opera while his wife takes dancing classes. The couple goes home for a break around noon.

At 2:30 pm a basketball class is held in the gymnasium of Shanyang Middle School. Dozens of students dribble and shoot on the court, which is also open for all residents for free after school.

After getting off work at 5 pm, some urban residents and nearby villagers go to the City Sports Park in the west of the county. The park, which opened last year, is equipped with a futsal pitch, a roller-skating rink, basketball courts and ping-pong tables.

As the sun sets, the passion for table tennis at the county sports center persists-this time, among a group of children. Training sessions for these little players from Zhengyang Table Tennis Club begin at 7 pm every day.

"They might be the future of Chinese ping-pong," said Chen Zhengzong, the club's coach. "One of our players joined the provincial team last year."

Zhang Wenqi, 10, plays for two hours every day. "I want to be a world champion like Xu Xin," he said.

As the little paddlers wipe away their sweat and head home at 9 pm, Li Anmin, chief of the county badminton association, and his fellow association members hit their shuttlecocks hard across the nets next door. "We usually play from 9 pm to 11 pm," said Li, who was happy to see the association membership expand from around 30 in 2009 to 139 today.

Meanwhile, outside the stadium, the square is brightly lit up for people who practice martial arts and children who study taekwondo.